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New leadership is essential - not just for "optics" but to send a clear message to the company's managers that the bridge loan requires fulfilling promises for a fundamental change in how they do business.

But what the auto companies - and the country - truly need is a coherent industrial policy, one that links energy prices to subsidies for retooling to build high efficiency vehicles. The real disaster will come if Washington requires the companies to make fuel efficient and electric cars as a condition of the loans, and then allows gas prices to sink to low levels, generating renewed demand for big cars and SUVs.

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